Smisek is out as United's CEO

Jeff Smisek's pay rose thanks to United awarding him $7.7 million in stock last year.

(Bloomberg) — United Continental Holdings Inc. removed Chief Executive Officer Jeff Smisek amid an internal inquiry into the airline's ties to the former chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey.

CSX Corp. Chief Operating Officer Oscar Munoz will succeed Smisek as CEO, United said Tuesday. Two other senior United officials also are leaving, the Chicago-based carrier said. United scheduled a conference call to discuss the moves at 5:30 p.m. New York time.

U.S. prosecutors have been probing the relationship between United and former Port Authority chief David Samson, who quit in March 2014. He has been under investigation for possible conflicts of interest at the agency, and U.S. authorities have sought information about a United flight between Newark, New Jersey, and Columbia, South Carolina, near where Samson's wife has a home. United ended that flight days after Samson left the Port Authority.

"The departures announced today are in connection with the company's previously disclosed internal investigation related to the federal investigation associated with the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey," United said. “The investigations are ongoing and the company continues to cooperate with the government.”

Smisek, 61, also gave up the titles of chairman, president and director, effective immediately, the airline said. United said Nene Foxhall, executive vice president of communications and government affairs, and Mark R. Anderson, senior vice president of communications and government affairs, also left the company.

"It isn’t an anti-Jeff board coup," said Gordon Bethune, CEO of Continental Airlines for a decade until 2004. "This is all about some alleged . . . quid pro quo."

The Record Newspaper in New Jersey reported in February that prosecutors were investigating the Newark-to-Columbia flight. The Port Authority runs the Newark airport, while Columbia Metropolitan Airport is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from where Samson's wife has a home.

Samson referred to the flights, which left Newark on Thursday evenings and returned Monday morning, as the “chairman's flight,” the Record reported. United canceled the route April 1, days after Samson resigned from the agency, which was under scrutiny after allies of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie closed traffic lanes at the George Washington Bridge.